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CAMH donor says more transparency needed about money

David Bird wanted to honour his late 22-year-old son Graeme by donating $400,000 to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in 2012.

Over the course of the three years he made payments, Bird became so disgruntled with the lack of transparency behind his donation that if it had not been made in his son’s name, he would have considered halting it partway through his commitment.

CAMH., whose 250 College St. is seen here, told a donor “nothing” as to how his funds had been used, he has told the Star. (Brian B. Bettencourt / Toronto Star)

Graeme had attended sessions at CAMH to address an online gambling addiction that developed after an ulcerative colitis diagnosis in his late teens, which according to his father, left him “quite debilitated.” Graeme died in 2010.

Although to this day Bird considers CAMH a valuable organization that does important work in advancing mental health projects and treating patients, he said there was a lack of communication regarding how his donation was spent.

“I think at this point I’d be a smarter donor,” said Bird.

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In an effort to centralize its communications with donors, a CAMH spokesperson said in a statement it recently created a three-person donor relations team.

“We absolutely value and recognize the essential role that donor funds play in transforming care, research and awareness about mental illness in Canada,” the organization stated. “Our donors are the essential life blood of this mission. We appreciate the tremendous role that donors play in the transformational work happening at CAMH.”

The level of communication may depend on what is outlined in a specific donor agreement, but CAMH said it could communicate with donors through its annual report, end-of-year summary letter, a custom annual stewardship report, monthly electronic newsletter, personal calls and invitations to events.

When he committed the funds, Bird said he was told it would round out the $1 million in donations needed to develop a “Youth in Crisis” pilot program.

“We wanted to do something to acknowledge CAMH, at least for some of the efforts they had made on behalf of our son even though we were not privy to what transpired between our son Graeme and CAMH itself,” Bird said. “Youth in Crisis seemed to be a reasonably good fit.”

By the second year of the commitment, Bird had already given most of the $400,000 he had pledged, with the balance donated to CAMH by 2014.

At the end of the first year, Bird and his wife toured a new facility where some of the Youth in Crisis work would take place, but said there was a lack of detail as to what that work would actually entail.

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Throughout the three years, he said he was told “nothing” as to how the funds had been used. He and his wife were given a second tour at the end of 2013 of a “completely unrelated” section of the hospital.

“We sort of walked away feeling we didn’t have really a good taste in our mouth,” said Bird. “I think if it hadn’t been for the fact it was in Graeme’s name, I would have said to them ‘you people have a significant problem whether you realize it or not.’ It’s that this reporting hasn’t been forthcoming. At that point, and even in 2014 . . . I couldn’t have told you what the money had been spent for.”

CAMH said in a statement that Bird’s donation helped fund a Youth Urgent Care Clinic, which continues to operate and serve youth 14-20 years old. Since opening in 2014, it has seen more than 350 patients.

The clinic acts as an alternative to emergency rooms for youth seeking immediate help for mental health and addictions issues. Those referred to the clinic are seen within 48-72 hours, according to the organization.

It wasn’t until earlier this year when Bird received a “generic report” not specifically addressed to him that explained how the clinic operates. He said he was “disappointed” with how late it came.

Earlier this year, philanthropist Andrew Faas halted a $1 million donation to CAMH just one year into his commitment, due to what he said was a lack of accountability demonstrated by the organization. The donation was meant to “create psychologically healthy and safe and fair workplaces,” but Faas said he had no proof any work had actually gone into the development of such a program.

CAMH said in a statement last month it stood by the progress made in the first year of his donation and that it “looked forward” to improving workplace mental health initiatives for its own employees through the development of the program Faas sought to help create.

But such goals may be unrealistic, according to Bill Wilkerson, executive chairman of advocacy agency Mental Health International. He said donors looking to create programs applicable to any workplace — such as the one Faas intended — should look elsewhere besides hospitals like CAMH.

“Perhaps this idea of a gift to CAMH was misplaced on both sides because hospitals are wholly unique,” Wilkerson said. “(There are) very unusual kinds of stress that are encountered by nurses, administrative staff, especially the younger clinical staff.

“To expect an institution like that to be able to develop a strategy that can be deployed among employers more broadly, I think is kind of stillborn.”

In Bird’s case, it wasn’t his intent to micromanage the donation, but he encourages CAMH to be more accountable in the future.

“I would just hope that they would be able to learn from it,” said Bird, who recently moved to Victoria and in 2015 donated $150,000 to the Victoria Hospital Foundation for the purchase of two interventional angiography machines.

“Otherwise people like me drift off and then there’s arguably $150,000 a year that they’re not getting and that in this case the Victoria Hospital Foundation is getting, or they’re not getting Mr. Faas’ money or other potential donors.”

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